We do not tend to remember lost wars or
their casualties. The American Revolution is a case in point.

December 1997 marked the 275 th anniversary
of the birth of Major John Pitcairn of the Marines. A minister's
son from Dysart, near Kirkcaldy in Fife, he fell fighting bravely
at Bunker Hill in 1775 but he is better known - and his valour
still respected - among his former enemies in the USA than in
Scotland.

John Pitcairn was baptised at Saint Serf's
Church in the then flourishing merchant port of Dysart, on December
28, 1722. He was the youngest surviving child of the Reverend
David Pitcairn, MA (St. Andrews) and his wife Katharine Hamilton,
both of well connected gentry families. Rev. David had served
in the War of the Spanish Succession as chaplain to the Cameronian
Regiment, under Colonels Lord Stair and Ferguson (great-granduncle
of another Scottish hero of the Revolutionary War). He was minister
of Dysart for some 50 years. The large Pitcairn family lived
in the manse (minister's house), right beside the old harbour
on the Firth of Forth. Having grown up with the sea almost literally
on the doorstep, John was commissioned Lieutenant in Cornwall's
7th Marines in 1746. When the Marines were established permanently
in 1755, he was confirmed in that rank. The following year, he
was promoted to Captain. He was serving aboard HMS Lancaster
in 1757, probably en route to Canada. In 1771, aged 48, he became
a Major in the Chatham division.

There is no contemporary portrait of John.
The 19th century copy of the miniature here illustrated is in
Lexington Museum. The uniform depicted is that of the 1790s.
Possibly it is a posthumous idealisation, based on Trumbull's
1786 history painting. Another possibility is that it shows John's
son Thomas, who died in 1797 aged only 42, and has been misidentified
within the family. In his early 20s, John had married Elizabeth
(Betty) Dalrymple (1724-1809), a distant cousin of his father's
old Colonel, the Earl of Stair. They had 6 sons (one dying in
childhood) and 4 daughters. Their eldest son, David, followed
his uncle, Dr. William Pitcairn, to become an eminent physician
at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London. Robert became a midshipman,
and in 1767 he was first to sight the Pacific Island named in
his honour, but was lost at sea in January 1770, aged only 17.
William joined his father in the Marines, while Thomas joined
the army. Alexander, the baby, born in Kent, was only 7 when
John died; eventually he entered the English legal profession.
The daughters, Annie, Katharine, Johanna and Janet, married naval
or army officers of good family.

In late November 1774, as unrest spread
in the American colonies, Major Pitcairn arrived in Boston with
some 600 Marines drawn from the Chatham, Portsmouth and Plymouth
divisions.

He had to contend with a dispute between
Admiral Graves1
and General Gage2
over landing them, and the fact that they had no proper winter
clothing and equipment. He also wrote that the Admiralty should
forbid the recruitment of men under 5' 6", since when he
did get his Marines ashore, he was dismayed to see how poorly
they compared when lined up next to the army.

The Plymouth Marines were particularly
troublesome: "animals", in John's words! They had been
sent out with inadequate officers, who could not keep order.
Men were selling their kit to buy the lethal local rum, which
killed a number of them. John spent some weeks living in barracks
with them to keep them sober. It was only with regret and evident
distaste that he resorted to flogging to enforce discipline.
Both respected and popular, he succeeded in drilling the men
into an effective force. His concern for his men's welfare was
reflected in one of his last acts before going to fight at Bunker Hill: writing a letter to obtain help
for some destitute soldiers.

John was billeted with Francis Shaw, a
fiercely anti-British tailor and neighbour of Paul Revere. Remarkably,
he won the respect and affection of Shaw and other Bostonians,
despite their political differences. Shaw was particularly grateful
to John for preventing a duel between his teenaged son Sam and
young Lieutenant Wragg, who was also billeted with the family.
Wragg had made some provocative remarks about Americans, and
Sam (later a diplomat!) had responded by throwing wine on him.
Fortunately, John was able to defuse the situation with his characteristic
charm and wit. He was highly regarded for his integrity, honesty
and sense of honour, and for dealing justly in disputes between
the locals and the military. He attended Christ Church every
Sabbath but during the rest of the week was noted for his profane
language. He hosted socials at Shaw's house, where British officers
and locals, including Revere, could meet and exchange views in
a civilised fashion. There was family company around, also: his
sons William and Thomas, and his daughter Katharine's husband,
Captain Charles Cochrane3.

On April 19, 1775, John Pitcairn was second-in-command
of the troops sent to destroy rebel stores in Concord. At Lexington Green, they came face-to-face with
a body of armed American militia. John ordered his men not to
fire and commanded the rebels to lay down their arms and disperse.
Several shots rang out and despite Johns' efforts, firing broke
out on both sides. Several militiamen were killed. The American
Revolutionary War had begun.

Their mission in Concord accomplished, the British came under
heavy fire on the roadback
to Boston.
John's horse was shot and threw him. He was forced to march the
rest of the way. Legend has it that his horse had taken with
it his brace of richly-decorated Scottish scroll-butt pistols,
which were presented as a trophy to American leader Israel Putnam,
who used them throughout the War! They are now displayed in Lexington.
They were made by the famous John Murdoch of Doune. However,
the crest on the escutcheon plate is not that of the Pitcairns,
and it may be that there has been a mistake in identifying from
whose horse they were taken. Putnam was allegedly carrying these
pistols on June 17 at Bunker Hill. The British launched three assaults
on the American position (actually on Breed's Hill) at Charlestown,
near Boston, and won the day - but at a hideous cost: 50 per
cent killed and wounded. Among the casualties was John Pitcairn.

In the summer heat he led his Marines -
including his son, William (age 21), a Lieutenant, on foot up
the hill for the final assault. While advancing, they crossed
another line of infantry, who were being pushed back by heavy
rebel fire. John told them to "Break and let the Marines
through!", and is said to have threatened to "bayonet
the buggers" if they would not get out of the Marines' way!
He waved his sword and urged his men on: "Now, for the glory
of the Marines!"

Then a musket ball struck him in the breast
and he fell into William's arms. The American artist John Trumbull depicted the scene in his famous 1786 painting of the
battle, with Dr. David Pitcairn modelling for the studies
of his late father, whom he greatly resembled, and Thomas for
William, who had died young in 1779. The lad carried his wounded
father on his back out of the line of fire, before returning
to the battle. "I have lost my father!" he said. "We
have all lost a father!" some of the Marines responded.

A boat took John back to Boston. He was
put to bed in a house on Prince Street. He was fully conscious
but guessed his chances were poor. With stoic courage - and without
anaesthetics - he faced the 18 th century soldiers' most feared
enemy - the 18 th century doctor. The army surgeons were overworked
because of the heavy casualties, so General Gage, anxious to
save an officer he greatly valued, had sent his own physician,
young Dr. Thomas Kast, to tend him. Firmly but courteously, John
told the doctor not to touch him until he had put his affairs
in order. Only then did he agree to have his wound examined.
But when Dr. Kast pulled John's waistcoat away from his chest,
he suffered a massive hemorrhage. Although the bullet was removed
and his wound dressed, he died a couple of hours later. He was
52.

Mourned by friend and foe alike, Major
Pitcairn was buried in the crypt of Christ Church (the "Old
North Church") in Boston. The fatal bullet and his uniform
buttons were returned to Betty and children.

In 1791, a coffin, said to be Johns' was
shipped to London for burial in the Church of St. Bartholomew
the Less, in the vault belonging to his brother and son, the
two Doctors Pitcairn. However, Boston tradition claims the wrong
coffin was sent, either by mistake or because an unscrupulous
Boston doctor and conman, Amos Winship, had deliberately duped
Betty and Dr. William Pitcairn. If this is true, he remains in
the city where he died.

John's birthplace, the old manse of Dysart,
was demolished over 100 years ago. All that survives is part
of the courtyard wall, with its 16 th century lintel, beside
the former Bay House. The old harbour, too, is long-gone, replaced
in the 19 th century. Dysart itself, no longer a busy European
trading port, has been all but swallowed up by neighbouring Kirkcaldy.

The marble plaque John erected to his parents'
memory in 1757-58 in St. Serfs was destroyed by vandals in the
early 19th century after the church fell into ruin. Only a square
of rough stonework in the east gable shows where it was attached
to the wall.

Yet in America Major John Pitcairn is still
remembered as a decent, honourable man and a gallant enemy.

2General
Gage - Major General Thomas Gage (1719?- 1787) British Commander-in-Chief
in North America relieved on October 10, 1775, by Major General
William Howe.

3Charles
Cochrane (1749 - 1781) - younger son of the Earl of Dundonald;
later Major, and Cornwallis' Aide-de -Camp. In South Carolina
in 1780 he led his men into a "friendly fire" incident
in which Major Patrick Ferguson was bayoneted. He was beheaded
by a cannonball at Yorktown. Katharine Pitcairn later remarried.

4See
Major Pitcairn's Official Report on the Lexington-Concord battle
below.

Major John Pitcairn's Lexington
Report

Boston Camp,
26 th April, 1775

To: General Thomas Gage

"Sir, As you are anxious to know the
particulars that happened near and at Lexington in the 19 th
Inst agreeable to your desire, I will in as concise a manner
as possible state the facts, for my time at present is so much
employed, as to prevent a more particular narrative of the occurrences
of that day.

Six companies of Light Infantry were detached
by Lt Colo Smith to take possession of two bridges on the other
side of Concord, near three in the Morning, when we were advanced
within about two miles of Lexington, intelligence was received
that about 500 men in arms were assembled, determined to oppose
the Kings troops, and retard them in their march. On this intelligence,
I mounted my horse, and galloped up to the six Light Companies.
When I arrived at the head of the advance Company, two officers
came and informed me, that a man of the rebels advanced from
those that were assembled, had presented his musket and attempted
to shoot them, but the piece flashed in the pan. On this I gave
directions to the troops to move forward, but on no account to
fire, or even attempt it without orders; when I arrived at the
end of the Village, I observed drawn up upon a Green near 200
rebels; when I came within about 100 yards of them, they began
to file off towards some stone walls on our right flank. The
Light Infantry, observing this, ran after them. I instantly called
to the soldiers not to fire, but surround and disarm them, and
after several repetitions of those positive orders to the men,
not to fire, etc. some of the rebels who had jumped over the
wall fired four or five shots at the soldiers, which wounded
a man of the Tenth and my horse was wounded in two places, from
some quarter or other, and at the same time several shots were
fired from a meeting house on our left. Upon this, without any
order or regularity, the Light Infantry began a scattered fire,
and continued in that situation for some little time, contrary
to the repeated orders both of me and the officers that were
present. It will be needless to mention what happened after,
as I suppose Colo Smith hath given a particular account of it.

I am, Sir, Your Most Obedt
Humble Servant
John Pitcairn

"Battle Road"original oil by A. Lassell Ripley
depicting a mounted Major Pitcairn leading his command back to
Boston